Bay's 'Bad Water' Churns Unease

"That's what Chesapeake Bay is now, a big septic tank," says waterman Elmer Evans of Smith Island, working in his crab shanty. (Robert A. Reeder -- The Washington Post)

Aug. 5: Smith Island

From the deck of Buddy Evans's boat, the "dead zone" seemed very much alive. The crabs that fell out of his pots were not only living -- they were so feisty that they tussled with each other in their baskets for hours afterward.

"It's not something you see every day," Evans said of the bad water. "It's not like it's this big kill-off all the time."

But he said he sees it about once a week: The bad water rolls over a pot, and the crabs can't escape. If they're still alive when he pulls them out, they're so weak they can't flip themselves off of their backs.

Fish, which generally have a lower tolerance than crabs for bad water, are often in worse shape.

"You shake the pot," Evans said. "And the fish just disintegrates."

And on this day, though Evans found no problems, his father, Elmer Evans, saw red water full of algae a few miles to the south.

"You don't catch any crabs in it. . . . It ruins it," he said, in the distinctive Smith Island accent that turns "ruins" into "rinns."

In the past year, problems with bad water have inspired some of Maryland's watermen to consider something very out of step with their fiercely independent history. Watermen's association officials have said they are talking with a D.C. lawyer about filing a class-action lawsuit against polluters.

For his part, Elmer Evans blames the bad water on people continually moving into the area, bringing more sewage runoff.

"That's what Chesapeake Bay is now," he said, "a big septic tank."

Aug. 6: Solomons Island

The customers don't look happy when they come back to Bunky's Charter Boats after a day on the water. They ask Ryan Payne, behind the counter, whether they should try a different kind of lure.

Payne tells them no. Wouldn't help.

"We know that it's not what they're fishing," Payne said, surrounded by racks of brightly colored lures. "But they don't."

The fishing hasn't been good here for a few weeks, since the water turned red with algae, Payne said.

In the bay's charter fishing business, it's a common lament. In some places, captains have said the fishing is fine. But other captains have said they're spending extra time and fuel chasing the fish.

"I can roll into a spot where yesterday there was plenty of fish there . . . and it's like the Dead Sea," said Richie Gaines, president of the Chesapeake Guides Association. He said these dead spots can range from 100 yards to five miles in diameter.

Bruno Vasta, a charter captain out of Solomons, said he has to travel 10 to 12 miles across the bay to find good water. His workdays have stretched from eight hours to 10 or 11, he said, because it takes customers longer to catch their limit.

"We can't continue to go as we are going," Vasta said in a telephone interview. "You just can't let it go down the drain."